» Match of the night: No match was more heated than the 182-pound match between Greeley West’s Logan Trzeciak and Greeley Central’s Andrue Rojas. Trzeciak probably could’ve won the match easily, but his conduct toward Rojas and the referee sent it to overtime where he managed a 9-8 victory.

» Turning point: Central seemed to have the match sealed up after a decision by Adam Rojas put it up 34-25. However, West crawled back in with an overtime win to make is a six-point deficit. The final match at 195 pounds decided the outcome as West’s Ernie Plascencia didn’t get the pin and Central won 34-31.

» What it means: The Wildcats scored two dual wins against in-town rivals Northridge and West. Central coach Eric Penfold said he hopes they will continue to do this triangular every year. Central now sits at 19-4 in duals and West holds a 14-3 dual record.

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It had come down to Eddie and Ernie.

Ernie Plascencia, a 195-pounder on Greeley West’s wrestling team, needed a pin to tie the dual, which Greeley Central won, 34-31, on Thursday.

He got out to a quick start, but Central’s Eddie Rojas wasn’t going to get pinned.

Eddie kept his back off the mat, giving Placencia a 7-2 decision win, but in return, he gave the Wildcats a nonconference dual win.

Central coach Eric Penfold said he didn’t coach Eddie to not get pinned, but he knew what he had to do for the Wildcats (19-4).

“The thing is people look at Eddie and they don’t see a lot (but) the kid can wrestle,” Penfold said. “And once his body catches up with some of his talent, he’s gonna be a force to reckoned with. … He did everything we asked of him. I can’t stress enough how proud we are of Eddie.”

Eddie, a sophomore, said there was no way he was going to let Plascencia pin him.

“I was sure I wasn’t going to get pinned,” Eddie said. “I swear I wouldn’t. … I tried to pull up all my strength and courage and tried to push it and it just ended up going like that.”

However, the final match wasn’t the talk of the night, especially for the Spartans (14-3).

At 182 pounds, West’s Logan Trzeciak matched up with Central’s Andrue Rojas (no relation to Eddie) when the Spartans were down 34-25. It was a tight match in the first period, but Trzeciak found himself in trouble. Andrue received two penalty points in the second period to tie the score at 4.

In the third period, Trzeciak started in the down position and got the reversal to go up 7-4. But, he got called for an illegal hold and misconduct twice to give Andrue three more penalty points and send the match into overtime.

West coach Jim Martinez said the Spartans thought Trzeciak had the pin, but the referee didn’t agree. After the match, the ref told Martinez that he had awarded a penalty point to Andrue because Trzeciak head-butted him.

“In a (hold) like that, there’s no way you could head-butt anybody,” Martinez said. “You come off to the side, your hands are already here, all you do is put pressure on the shoulders. That should’ve been a pin right there and the difference in the match.

“It just spoils what the whole thing was about,” he added. “A referee cannot let that (happen) … it’s not his responsibility. It’s his job to make the calls that are there.”

Martinez also said the ref wasn’t explaining to Trzeciak what the penalty points were for. Still, Trzeciak came up with a takedown with 13 seconds left in overtime but ended with a score of 9-8 due to one final penalty point.

Penfold said Central knew it could frustrate Trzeciak and it did.

“We got some points there because he lost his cool. That’s part of wrestling,” Penfold said. “And at the end there, he gave us a little something extra. We try to be class acts about stuff, so we’re not gonna lower ourselves to any kind of level there.

“Logan’s a great wrestler,” he added. “We’re gonna be rooting for him the next two weeks. We wanna see him do well at state.”

Even though the dual didn’t end up going West’s way, Martinez said he was proud of all the wrestlers.

“I’m proud of Greeley Central. They wrestled their butts off,” Martinez said. “ … I think both teams came out here and they wrestled hard. I’m not taking anything from Central because both of us wrestled to win. It’s unfortunate when they have to make calls like that.”

Central started the dual up 12-0 after two forfeit wins in the 220 and heavyweight matches. The Wildcats won the next two matches but West came back with three pins, a major decision and a decision to take the lead 25-19.

Central 152-pounder Paul Robeson, who was named Outstanding Wrestler of the dual, pinned Henry Alvizo in 1 minute, 14 seconds to tie the dual at 25. The Wildcats then won the next two matches with a pin and a decision to go up 34-25.

Earlier in the night, Central also won its nonconference dual with Northridge 53-24. The Wildcats had six pins, one technical fall and two forfeit wins against the Grizzlies.

Penfold said winning both duals is a big deal for the team.

“It’s big for this school when we can start winning stuff like this and in front of a good crowd,” he said. “It’s just good for the sport of wrestling. I mean, that’s what we want, win or lose. Obviously, we wanna win but just that atmosphere is awesome.”